Breaking the Ice
by LdyAnne
Summary: After a series of disastrous missions, the team goes to Jack’s cabin to try to reconnect. Nothing ever goes according to plan for SG1.


Disclaimer: No, they're not mine. I just take them out and play with them sometimes.

* * *

Sitting in an overstuffed chair next to the fire, Daniel fingered the weathered pages of the book he was pretending to read. There was a chill in the room despite the brightly crackling fire and he pulled the blankets around his shoulders a little closer. From where he sat he could see the wintery scene beyond the wall sized plate-glass window.

The vista was one straight out of a postcard with snow-covered trees and frosted window panes. You couldn't see the car they'd arrived in the night before because it was buried under the snow, but he did have an excellent view of the rest of his teammates.

They were trying to teach Teal'c how to build a snowman. He could tell by Jack's exasperated stance that Teal'c didn't agree with his tried and true snowman building techniques. He smiled a little, wistful that he wasn't out there with them.

They'd tried to drag him out with them; they hadn't wanted to leave him inside alone, but he'd insisted.

"We came to the cabin to spend some time together, Daniel," Jack had pointed out.

"We're together, Jack," Daniel waved a hand to encompass the cabin and all of them. "But I'm still recuperating remember?"

"Yeah," Jack perked up in the chair he had been lounging in, "and we still haven't seen that appendix scar," he leaned forward suggestively.

"And you're still **not** going to see it," Daniel informed him firmly.

Jack leaned back in his chair, "Be that way," he huffed.

"I will." Daniel settled back, pulling the covers around him.

Sam and Teal'c exchanged a glance as if to agree that things were back to their proper order. "We don't mind staying in with you, Daniel," Sam said. "We can teach Teal'c how to build a snowman tomorrow."

"Don't do that. Really, I'll be okay." He refused to let them stay indoors with him. Jack was already getting bored with being trapped inside the small cabin. It would be better for them all if he got out and expended some of his excess energy.

Daniel tapped the book in his lap, "I just want to sit here by the fire and not move for a few hours." He smiled at them, trying hard to convince them that he was fine. At last, they had reluctantly agreed, tramping out into the snow, leaving him alone.

As much as Daniel didn't want to be alone, the truth was, he didn't like snow. He'd spent the happiest years of his life under the hot desert sun. First with his parents on digs as he was growing up; then much later on Abydos with his wife Sha're.

He remembered the winter after his parents had died. He had never known it could get so cold. The world outside seemed to reflect the chill he felt in his own soul. He knew he should be excited the first time it snowed. His parents had told him about it. He'd longed to see it for so long. But now all he could think about was the fact that they weren't there to share it with him. He had watched out the window while the other kids played.

Sitting in his chair piled under blankets watching his friends outside playing in the snow, he felt like that long-ago child that had always on the outside looking in. In a way it was the way he'd been feeling ever since the whole incident with the crystal skull. He'd been on the outside looking in – he could see his friends, hear them, nearly touch them; but he'd been invisible to them. It was not an experience he'd want to repeat.

As bad as that had been, the mission with the replicators had been worse. He'd been forced to stay on the base while his friends had risked their lives to save Earth. He drifted off to an uneasy sleep as he remembered watching the replicators overtake Jack and Teal'c and being forced to give the deadly order to fire the bomb that would destroy the sub and kill his friends.

* * *

Looking back at the house with sigh, Jack turned his attention back to the snowman they were trying to make. He didn't like leaving Daniel alone, they had come to the cabin to bond. After the whole mess with the replicators he had felt the team needed some time to reconnect.

When the General had told them to take a long weekend, the Colonel had jumped at the chance to give his team some R& R. He hadn't given them a choice, he had bundled them all up and drove straight to the cabin. He didn't plan on the early winter storm, but he hadn't thought it would interfere with their downtime. If the General needed them, he would get them out – snow or no snow.

Now Daniel was inside alone, and the rest of the team was outside in the bright afternoon sunshine. It wasn't right, but Daniel hated it when he was hovered over and he really did need the rest as much as he needed to reconnect with his team.

"Sir, watch out." Sam's shout pulled him from his introspection.

"Dammit, Carter, we're on vacation. How many times have I told you…." his tirade was cut off by a snowball to the back of his head.

"I tried to warn you, sir," she protested when he turned on her with an outraged splutter.

"O'Neill, you must always be on your guard."

Jack couldn't tell where the big man was located. His echoing voice could be coming from anywhere. "T, it's a snowball fight, not war games." He turned trying to spot the alien warrior. How did a 7-foot tall black man hide in a field of snow, anyway?

"An enemy may appear anywhere, O'Neill. You must be ready at any time to defend your life." A barrage of snowballs nearly flattened Jack where he stood. A squeal from Carter's vicinity told him that she had also been targeted.

"Carter, you're with me. I think we're going to have to teach the Jaffa a lesson."

"Right behind you, sir."

Worries about Daniel were pushed to the back of his mind as Jack began to formulate his plan of attack.

* * *

In his dreams Daniel was trapped in a room of glass. Its walls were clear and hard. Try as he might to break them, they were unyielding.

Apophis was on the other side of the clear walls with his friends, torturing them slowly, taunting Daniel. Daniel pounded on the glass again and again until his fists were bloody and still the glass held. One by one Apophis killed his friends before finally turning his attention to Daniel. The Goa'uld's eyes lit with a demonic fire as the glass slid up into the ceiling. He advanced on Daniel, hand held out, the crystal in the hand device already beginning to glow …

Daniel woke with a start, his dream so clear and vivid that for a moment he was afraid that he hadn't been dreaming…

He clutched the blankets that were tucked around him, drawing in ragged breaths trying to order his scattered thoughts. He was in Jack's cabin. They'd come for some R & R; his friends were right outside, they were fine.

Around him the house was quiet, even the fire was no longer popping and crackling. It had burned down until all that was left were glowing embers. The sun outside the window was sinking. Spilling its last rays across the snow it stained it a bloody crimson. His friends were nowhere to be seen.

Jumping up, the blankets and the book tumbled to the floor. He paused long enough to slide into his boots, then grabbing his jacket, he plunged out the door of the cabin into the snow.

There was plenty of evidence that his friends had been there. Even in the growing shadows he could see the half-built snowman and the trampled snow where his friends had been. But there was no sign of them now; they had simply disappeared.

Dread seized him as he thought of all the things that could have happened. He closed his eyes trying to think. He knew he should go back inside and call the General. The SGC could have a team to the cabin in just a matter of hours. But those hours could be precious ones to his friends: the difference between life and death. No, he had to find them first and then assess the situation, decide what to do.

He was still, listening, straining to hear something that might give him a clue what to do. There was only silence and the sound of his ragged breathing; the air was bitterly cold, stinging his nose and throat. Automatically he zipped up his jacket, flipping up the hood and tying it securely. He pulled his gloves out of their pocket and tugged them on as he began to cast about in the snow. He was looking for something, anything that might tell him where his friends had gone.

Night was approaching rapidly, the shadows spreading. He had to do something quickly or he would be forced to wait until the morning, by then he knew it could be too late.

* * *

Jack was thoroughly pleased with himself. It had taken them a couple of hours, but he and Sam had finally managed to capture the Jaffa. Rising out of the mini avalanche in which they had buried him, he had looked like the abominable snowman.

Heading back to the cabin, they were wet and cold and hungry. It occurred to Jack that maybe Daniel would have supper waiting for them, something hot and steaming. The thought was enough to make him pick up his speed. Carter and Teal'c must have had the same idea, because they followed quickly behind him.

Jack was looking forward to a quiet evening. They had brought some videos, and he was hoping that since Daniel had napped all day, maybe he'd be up to a game of chess before bed.

The cabin was a welcome sight in the gathering gloom of night. There were no lights on, but the smoke from the chimney was making a lazy track across the sky. Jack squelched the disappointment he felt when he realized that Daniel must still be asleep. The kid needed his rest. He was at the cabin to rest and recoup, not to wait on his teammates.

"Lucy, we're home," Jack sang out as they trudged through the door. "Time to wakey, wakey, Daniel."

There was nothing but the silence to greet them. The fire had nearly died and was now just a red pile of embers that didn't manage to chase the chill from the room. There wasn't even enough light from it to see by, the room was steeped in shadow.

Carter flipped the light switch flooding the room with bright white light. They all stood for a surprised second, blinking against the sudden assault on their eyes. Then they took in the blankets scattered on the floor, the book left lying where it had fallen, the empty chair.

"Daniel," the Colonel called out. The cabin wasn't large, and there weren't that many places the archaeologist could be; besides the large main room, there was a bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom. The only sound he heard was the harsh breathing of the rest of his team.

"Carter, check the rest of the cabin," Jack ordered.

While Sam hurried to find out if Daniel really was somewhere else in the small cabin, the Colonel and Teal'c gathered the few supplies they had on hand – flashlights, extra batteries, a first aid kit, and some rope Jack had stored under the sink. Carter appeared, her face white.

Jack asked even though he already knew the answer, "Any sign?"

She gave a quick shake of her head, "No, sir, and his jacket's gone."

Jack ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "Shit, Daniel, what happened?"

"There is no way of determining that until we find, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c told him gravely.

The Colonel nearly snarled at the Jaffa, but caught himself. It wasn't Teal'c's fault this, whatever **this** was, had happened. No, it was completely Jack O'Neill's fault for leaving his friend alone. "Alright, let's head out. But be careful. It's dark and it's deadly cold. We don't have any idea what's happened…"

Teal'c held up a hand. He cocked his head as he looked at the discarded pile of blankets, "Whatever happened, it disturbed Daniel Jackson greatly."

The '_no shit, Sherlock_' hovered on O'Neill's lips, but he held it in. Again, it wouldn't help to take his frustration out on the Jaffa. No one was a better tracker than Teal'c. If anyone could find Daniel it would be him.

Teal'c strode to the door; pulling it open he stepped back out into the night. Following him, Jack and Sam walked carefully so as not to disturb any tracks that might help Teal'c locate their missing friend. He came to a halt near their unfinished snowman. They'd got bored half way through and never finished him. He was just three balls of snow without a face.

"Daniel Jackson came here," Teal'c announced. His eyes narrowed as he tried to pinpoint Daniel's tracks in the snowy mess.

Jack shivered in the bitterly cold evening air. Where was Daniel right now? Was he out here in this snowy expanse needing their help?

"Was he chased out here, Teal'c?" Sam asked in concern. "What made him come out here like this?"

Teal'c took a moment to answer, "There is no sign of any apparent pursuit, Major Carter, but…"

Just then, through the clear night air, there was a shout, Daniel's voice calling for them, "Jack. Sam. Teal'c."

Daniel's voice had come from…

While they were turning, trying to determine the direction of his shout, they all heard it at the same time. There was a crack like a rifle, a strangled shout, and a splash. They ran toward the river knowing what they would find.

* * *

Daniel felt the ice below him give. He tried to jump to more solid footing, but the ice was too fractured. It gave beneath his feet, dumping him into the lake. The water closed over Daniel's head, the cold so intense that it hit him like a blow, stealing away his breath. He sucked in air, choking on the icy water that pierced his lungs like a knife.

The cold overwhelmed all of his senses. He struggled weakly against the water's pull, trying to think what he needed to do. He was already shivering so badly he couldn't control his limbs. Over his head, the ice was beginning to reform, trapping him in the frozen depths of the lake.

* * *

The team skidded to a halt at the edge of the lake. Jack flicked the beams of his flashlight over the ice-covered lake. They could see Daniel's footsteps where he'd ventured out onto the ice, but then they abruptly stopped. It had only been seconds since they'd heard his aborted cry for help, yet already the ice was beginning to reform in a thin layer where he had fallen in. The Colonel dropped everything and began to loop the rope around his waist, "Carter, I want you to go back to the cabin. Get the fire going again and call…"

"No, sir," she told him firmly. She reached out and began to untie the rope he'd just tied into a secure knot.

"Shit, Carter, Daniel doesn't have time for this…"

"No, he doesn't, Colonel," she agreed. "Now, it's going to take two of us to get Daniel and whoever goes into the water back to the cabin. I can't do it, it's got to be you and Teal'c." She met his gaze, defying him to argue with her.

"Major Carter is indeed correct, O'Neill. The water is very dangerous at this temperature. Whoever goes into it to rescue Daniel Jackson is also going to need assistance. It is the most logical course that she be the one to attempt this rescue."

Damn! He hated it when his team ganged up on him. And he hated it even more when they were right. He needed to be the one to pull Daniel out of the water. But he needed even more that they get Daniel inside and safe. With an aggrieved huff, he gave in and helped to tie the rope around Sam's waist. "Just grab him, Sam, and pull him out. We'll do the rest and get the two of you out of there."

"That was the plan, Sir." She smiled at him, a brief flash, "we'll get him, sir."

He didn't answer; they'd already wasted too much time. Hypothermia was going to set in quickly in water this cold. Handing her the flashlight, he took a firm grip on the rope as she stepped out gingerly onto the ice. He could feel Teal'c behind him loop the rope around him and set himself as an anchor.

--SG1--

Sam walked out on the ice carefully. It wouldn't do Daniel any good if she fell in too. She stepped and tested the ice before she put her whole weight on it, sweeping the ice with the flashlight. She could see the spot where Daniel had fallen through. It was just a dozen steps away…

_She had hated it on the Asgard ship without her team_, 10 steps…,

_she'd especially missed Daniel. They bounced ideas off one another and it helped her think_, 8 steps…

She stopped when her light revealed a flash of something underneath the ice.

Dropping to her knees she scrubbed at the ice with her arm. There, beneath the thick layer of ice, was Daniel. He must have gotten disoriented and ended up moving under the ice. He looked up at her with panicked blue eyes, beating weakly at the ice with a fist. Even through the distortion of the snow and the ice, she could see that his lips were blue and his face was as white as the snow around her.

She picked a spot to the right of Daniel, and brought the flashlight down with all her might. It fractured the ice, but didn't break it. She brought it down again, keeping her eyes on Daniel the entire time. It took four blows from the flashlight before she had a hole chipped out in the ice. Without even thinking about it, she slipped into the water.

For a moment the shock of the cold drove everything else from her mind, but then she remembered why she was there. She reached out for Daniel and grabbed a fistful of his jacket. She pulled him to her, he was a dead weight in the water, his head rolled back and his eyes shut.

"No, Daniel, no, stay with me," she gasped through chattering teeth. She was not going to have jumped into the water, risked hypothermia herself for a dead body. She wrapped her arms around him and hoisted him onto the ice. It took all of her quickly waning strength to just hold him there.

"Sam," his voice was so faint she almost didn't hear it.

"Daniel, I need you to help me, can you? You need to hold on to the rope." She wrapped his hands around the rope and gave a squeeze.

"…Try," was all she got. She could tell he was trying to hold on weakly.

Sam tugged on the rope, hoping the Colonel and Teal'c would get her message. She felt the rope grow taut as they pulled, slowly and steadily. She could feel Daniel trying to help pull himself out the hole in the ice, but mostly it was Sam who got them both out. After they were both out the water, lying on the ice, she wrapped her arms around Daniel and the rope. Then she just concentrated on holding on.

--SG1--

They felt the tug as Sam signaled that she was ready to be pulled back in. Teal'c pulled steadily in tandem with O'Neill, feeling the weight on the rope increase as they pulled the two toward them. He had great respect and love for the young scholar. Daniel Jackson had the heart of a warrior and the Jaffa was determined to do all he could to save him. He didn't know what had caused the young human to rush off into the snow, but it didn't matter. They would do whatever was necessary to bring him home.

Teal'c had been comforted to hear Daniel Jackson's voice in his ear as they had fought the replicators on the human submarine. Teal'c knew that they fought for all of humanity, but it had been for Daniel's life that Teal'c had fought. Even if he himself had died, Daniel Jackson would still be alive to continue the fight for them. It had been enough for him.

He had not fought the replicators to save Earth and Daniel Jackson only to lose him to some Earth-bound accident.

Jack pulled, grateful for the strength of the Jaffa at his back. His senses strained for any sign of trouble, something that might have sent Daniel out into the snowy night. There was nothing, just he and Teal'c steadily pulling.

They had come so close to loosing Daniel with his appendix, now this. Jack's arm's strained as he fought to pull both Sam and Daniel. They were a dead weight; he just hoped they could hold on. There was no way he or Teal'c could go out on the ice, it wouldn't stand much more weight. He could see where it was fracturing more under Carter's added weight.

They shouldn't have left Daniel alone. The whole reason for coming to the cabin had been to spend time as a team. Jack shivered, and not just from the cold. What would they do if they lost Daniel? He pushed the thought firmly away and just concentrated on pulling.

--SG1--

It was only a few feet to the shore, but Sam felt like it took forever for their friends to pull them in. She and Daniel were soaked to the skin and they had a tendency to stick to the ice if they settled in one place too long. She had never been so cold in her life, not even in Antarctica. But Daniel was alive, she could feel him shivering fiercely in her arms, it was all that mattered.

* * *

Hair tickling his nose woke Daniel from his deep sleep. He was still cold, shivering within a nest of blankets, but it wasn't the bone-deep cold that had gripped him in the water. Now he found himself under piles of blankets and there was a body tucked in close to him. They were wrapped up in separate cocoons of blankets, but Sam was close enough to him that her hair was tickling his nose. Daniel could hear the roar of a fire nearby and there was the murmur of voices. Voices he recognized…

"Jack?" He struggled to sit up, but his body refused to listen to him. Instantly the older man was there. He helped him to sit, holding a cup of something warm to his lips. Daniel gratefully drank it down, feeling the warmth slide down to his belly. He grimaced, "Sugar water?"

"Hey, the doc and a team from the SGC will be here any time now to take us home. She would kill me if I gave you coffee." His friend tipped the cup again so the warm liquid slipped down his throat.

"Doc?" Daniel asked not quite comprehending. Weren't they at Jack's cabin?

"Well, after your little swim in the lake, we have to get you and Sam back to the SGC for proper care. You'll just do anything to avoid fishing, won't you?"

"Sam? Is she okay?" He pushed weakly at the cup Jack kept holding to his mouth, but the other man was insistent.

"Yeah, sure, you betcha. She likes swimming in arctic waters. What in hell did you think you were doing anyway?" Though the words were harsh, Jack's tone was gentle as he again held the cup and helped his friend drink.

"I was looking for you guys." Daniel's eyes peered up at him surprised. Hadn't they known that?

"In the middle of a frozen lake?"

Daniel shivered harder at the thought of the cold that had gripped him. Jack tucked the covers in a little firmer. "I followed your tracks to the lake," Daniel shivered again, "thought you needed help."

"Oh for crying out loud," sudden realization caused Jack to nearly drop the cup he was holding. He and Sam had laid several false tracks for the Jaffa in their game. One of them had led to the river. "You were coming to save us?"

There was a small nod of the head, "Couldn't just sit this time and watch." Jack could read the distress in his friend's blue eyes. He could see in Daniel's eyes the hell that Daniel had gone through when he had been forced to give the order to fire on the best friends he had ever had.

"We appreciate it, but you almost killed yourself for nothing."

"Didn't need me?" Daniel frowned trying to get his foggy thoughts in some sort of order.

"Don't ever think that, Daniel, we always need you."

That seemed to satisfy him for a moment. His eyes started to close, but then they fluttered back open. "Jack?"

"Still here, buddy."

"Next time I tell you to leave me alone, don't listen to me, k?" Daniel gazed up at him, searching Jack's eyes for reassurance.

"Don't worry, buddy, we won't be leaving you alone, again. We're going to stick so close to you that you'll be sick of us."

Daniel smiled, "It'll never happen." His eyes closed and he slept again.

The chill that had been tugging at Jack's soul loosened. He looked around the room – Teal'c was doing Kel-no-reem, a solid presence in the room, Carter and Daniel slept side-by-side like two peas in a pod, and he was there to keep watch. It was his team, and he would keep them together through hell and back if he had to.


End file.
